So I was driving my S10 the other day, and heard a loud *BANG* from my CV joint/half shaft/front drive axle (apparently GM has many names for this dang part). I managed to limp it home in 2WD while the truck made an insanely loud noise from the driver's-side axle. I've removed the damaged axle, and saw that it had snapped in an area near the tire (sorry I don't know names for these suspension parts, i'm an engine guy). It was pretty impressive, since that's almost an inch of solid metal that got cut in half! And there was no warning, unlike FWD CV joints/axles which click for a few months before they die.
Anyway while replacing the axle I spun both the old & new one with my hands, and noticed that I could only spin it so much before I hit a stop. Is this normal, or is that stop (which might be caused by another problem) what caused my old axle to snap in half?

Sorry in advance if I posted this in the wrong subforum, I'm still getting used to where topics go.